St. Paul daily globe., 1887-10-22

people that one Judge should be required to
perform the duties required of him in a dis
and property OF the citizen is in the balance.
The Fifth judicial district is comprised Of
tWenty-three organized counties and an area
Hf county 12o mules wide and zoo miles piles
each year, fixed by law, the judge being re-
Quired, also, to attend three terms
OF supreme court held at points very
remote from his district In attending
the respective terms of supreme and district
courts the judge travels about 1000 miles
each year. About 1,800 jury cases are on
the calendars at present. about 1000 having
been disposed of during the year last past.
The judge sits in chambers at Huron each
Saturday afternoon, and the number of mo-
tons and ex parte matters brought before
the judge at chambers will average twenty
five per session. The district has popula
ton of nearly 100000.
Judge Francis says in his letter: Courts
are held in eleven subdivisions into which
the district is divided. The court for the dis
trict which is held twice in each year at Bis
marck, is vested with power to try eases III
which the United States is party, and the
United States business is increasing from
term to term. Chamber and court business
is steadily enlarging and now taxes all the
available facilities afforded
Gov. Church goes on to say: The Judges
of the Third, Fifth and Sixth judicial dis
triets are overwhelmed with work, and the
volume OF litigation is constantly growing in
proportion to the rapid increase of popula-
ton in the territory, and 1 earnestly hope
that congress will grant our people
Sef Se line of PTSper mope iuden sslia8n faeIiies
At least two new judicial districts could be
erected out of the territory now comprising
the Third, Fifth and Sixth judicial districts.
The amonnt of work in these districts in par
ticular 1t is impossible for the judges to per
form, and consequently the delays attendant
on litigation operates, in many instances, as Il
denial of justice. The criminal business
alone occupies large share of the courts
time, and in many instances great hardship
occurs by reason of the long delay
between terms of court during which those
who are charged with crime and are unfor-
tunate in not being able to procure bail are
compelled TO remain i'll jail, entailing heavy
expense to the taxpayers and hardship to
the prisoners, especially when the offense of
which he nay be charged proves to be slight
or unfounded, and instances are known TO
myself while upon the bench where parties
have been charged with crime of trivial
character, and after months of imprisonment
the prosecutor has failed to appear or the
grand jury indict, and there is no way by
which This can be remedied save by increas
ing the Judiciary to that extent that will ell
able ii 10 discharge the rapidly increasing
business.
THE PUBLIC EXAMINERS.
The public examiners acts are among the
most important acts passed by the last legiS-
lature, and have been of great value. Two
examiners districts were created, and Charles
~ IulIlS, VI aDGTu6eIl, WIS dpDOiuteQc cAdl1l-
iner for the First district, and Z. s. Tyler, of
Fargo, for the Second district l annex brief
reports from the public examiners:
OFFICE PUBLIC EXAMINER, FIRST DISTRICT,
DAKOTA, ABERDEEN, Oak, Oct. 3, 1887.
In starting out to discharge the duties of
this office | found that considerable time
would necessarily have to be taken in order
to get correct ideas of the ways and manners
of doing the business i'll the several county
treasurer's offices and i'll the several terri
torial institutions. There being no prece-
dents. it necessarily made the work slow.
| have examined into the method OF keeping
the books in the county treasurer S Office and
have suggested some changes in the way of
keeping the accounts which think will be
OF great benefit to the several officers.
believe the Public Examiners act will
prove of great benefit to the territory, as it
has tendency to make public officials sub
ject to examination more careful in keeping
up the affairs of their Office. and in almost
every instance have found them ready for
examination. have been unable to give
the county treasurers in this district the at
tention had hoped to, owing to the amount
of my time taken in examining the territor
ial institutions. which commenced early in
May and have not yet fully completed. l
found in all the said Institutions with one or
two exceptions, a total lack of business prin-
ciples applied in discharging the duties of
the several institutions. In many eases loose
stubs or memo an a were all that was kept to
show how thousands of dollars had been dis
bursed.
Ihave instructed each of these institutions
to procure good, substantial cash books aid
ledgers and TO bring everything commencing
with the present term down to date, believing
as / do that $40 invested in such set of
books will prove a judicious investment, as
! they are records that should be preserved and
and they cannot be on stubs or loose paper
or cheap, fimsy account books.
The officers i'll all the institutions see the
necessity of and have showed a disposition
to bring about a change in the ways and man.
n nnr6C i6nro ,1a
time has been employed since early III May
in examining the affairs of the Dakota hos
pltal for the insane at Yankton. Oak. /
found no records to show how large amount.
of the public funds of this institution had
been disposed Of they having been taken
from the steward. where they rightly be-
longed, by the trustees and diSburSed by
them
The report of the trustees showed that each
appropriation had been expended for the
purpose for which it had been appropriated,
and no other record outside of the biennial
report of the trustees could be found to show
when and III what amounts the several ap-
preparations had been expended.
Grave charges had come from the citizens
OF the territory as to the mismanagement of
this institution, but the old trustees had left
no record outside of their biennial report
The examination which was held later showed
that the trustees and not the steward had dis
bursed S24, $50 of the funds: that they had
drawn this along in advance of the purposes
for which it was appropriated and wanted,
and that it had not been expended as stated
in their biennial report
hope to have everything in these institu-
tionS in such shape soon that their records
will show where and how every dollar has
been expended. The officers of the several
institutions have all cheerfully coincided
with me in my view in this matter and are
getting their records in shape. This one
thing, think, will be of lasting benefit to
the territory as these records are not alone
wanted for to-day or the present board.
G. n. HARRIS.
PUBLIC EXAMINERS OFFICE, SEcoNDl
DISTRICT, FARGO, Oak, Sept. 20, 1887. {
The knowledge that there is such an officer
as public examiner has had noticeable
tendency to spur up county officers who are
inclined to be slack, or careless in their
methods of doing business; and the possibil-
ity of being called upon without notice has
prevented treasurers from using the funds
for private purposes. l think it has been of
great advantage to those officers who are
anxious to keep their accounts straight and
in good order, but have not been thoroughly
trained i'll business affairs; and l am
glad to say that l find them nearly. if
not all, ready and willing to adopt
any system that will simplify the work. We
labor under great disadvantage this year ow-
ing to the different interpretations of the ex-
listing laws by different county officers, and
defects in the laws themselves. We hope for
next year to get out a uniform and complete
set OF blanks for use under the revised laws.
There are not more than two or three coun.
ties in the district that have the same form of
tax lists or of tax receipts but shall try and
have them uniform next year, and made to
fit a complete system of accounting for the
same. E. S. TYLER
SPECIAL LEGISLATION.
Among the important acts of the late con-
gress relating to the territories was the act
relating to special legislation, and it has prov
en- very beneficial. 1t would have been well
had the same act clothed the governors with
power to veto items in appropriation bills
and thereby he could prevent the loading
down of needful and proper bills of appro-
priation with what is often not only unneces-
sary but eXtravagant.
The alien land law was another important
piece of legislation, and while it prevents
aliens from acquiring great and extensive
tracts of land, it also prevents our people
from receiving the benefit of